The problem with women eating crunchy chips

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When all else fails, or you simply need to attempt something new in marketing, exploring a new way to appeal to women is always a winner.

Isn’t it?

Well it can be, if it’s not sexist.

And it can be, if it actually aims to fill a need or desire that’s somehow specific to women.

And I dare say that the ‘crunch’ chips make when you’re eating them is not high on the list of key grievances affecting women in 2018. Nor is the fact that flavour gets stuck to fingers as you’re attempting to dive down to collect those last few broken chips at the bottom of a pack.

But PepsiCo, parent company of Doritos, has felt the need to deny it will be releasing “female-friendly” chip product following a global backlash to CEO Indra Nooyi’s comments on the Freakonomics podcast that women eat and enjoy chips differently to men, and that female-friendly chip packaging could be on its way, with the company getting ready to “launch a bunch” of such products soon.

According to Nooyi, women are looking for snacks with a “low crunch” sound, that we can enjoy with less flavour sticking to our fingers, and in packaging that can fit in our purses.

Here’s how Nooyi explained the ‘problem’:

“When you eat out of a flex bag — one of our single-serve bags — especially as you watch a lot of the young guys eat the chips, they love their Doritos, and they lick their fingers with great glee. And when they reach the bottom of the bag they pour the little broken pieces into their mouth, because they don’t want to lose that taste of the flavour, and the broken chips in the bottom,” she said.

“Women would love to do the same, but they don’t. They don’t like to crunch too loudly in public. And they don’t lick their fingers generously, and they don’t like to pour the little broken pieces and the flavour into their mouth.”

We women want to eat our chips like ladies! Thank goodness at least one company is considering our delicate hands, and our desire not to be heard in public.

But alas such “lady Doritos” won’t be happening, or at least won’t be marketed as such.

PepsiCo released a statement yesterday claiming that it was inaccurate to interpret their CEO’s comments as meaning they were creating a female-friendly chip product. “We already have Doritos for women — they’re called Doritos,” the statement said.

Angela Priestley is the Founding Editor of Women's Agenda. She's an author, journalist and editor turned media entrepreneur and business owner. She's interviewed more than 1000 women during her career, and regularly shares what she's learnt on Women's Agenda and in front of audiences as a speaker, panellist & event moderator.